|
Binary poll here.
Assume you speak the city's language, can afford to do either, have been invited to do both, and risks to your safety are minimal and equal with each choice. Straightforwardly, what would you prefer to do?
I'm very much a Choice 2 person, and I think I'm in the minority -- when I went to Costa Rica on a quick exchange, I much preferred hanging out with my host family and the students at the university to going to bars.
Ditto New Orleans -- I went for a week last March on a service trip. We had optional programs most nights -- one night we were invited to Malik Rahim's house (he founded the relief organization we worked for and rode out the storm with 80 people in his double-shotgun house in Algiers); another night we could go to a restaurant to talk about restorative justice with another resident. I always went to the optional programs -- the way I figure it, I can go to a bar here. I'm not much of a drinker in any case. (My group did not seek out jazz/zydeco/etc., which may have swayed me differently -- it was always drinking at a bar, which I can do here.) But I understand why people would want/need to do something different, especially in New Orleans. I found it easier to stay immersed, than to go be a tourist then come back to the mess, but I think that was just me.
|